Feature: Blast From E3 Past

Another E3 has come and gone, delivering a few surprises, confirming and stopping rumors, showcasing new hardware, and previewing the lineup for the coming year. The Electronic Entertainment Expo is the Christmas to the gamers, except we don’t get to open anything…Actually it’s more like New Years. Still though gamers or scientists for that matter haven’t mastered time traveling with successful results, so we don’t know how good any of the new games or hardware is going to be. So it’s time for me to look back on my initial thoughts on that game from E3, and base my opinion on what I remember from that.
Portal 2

E3: What the Gabe Newell doing here at the Sony conference? I thought he hated them…”THE best console version of (Portal 2)”? That’s a bold statement.

End Result: Gabe Newell and the team at Valve delivered a game that was beautifully polished, game that required a good amount of trial and error. Valve delivered a rich multiplayer experience that really needed patience and communication between the two people playing. Overall Portal 2 met expectations with the controls of the game, the puzzles, and the writing. Unfortunately for the PS3 users the online capabilities were cut off soon after due to the infamous Sony attack.

Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds

E3: I thought I could pass it up, I was never good at this game

End Result: Just out of the blue I rented it on the release day. When I played it, I thought this game got me back into fighting games. It was easy to learn yet hard to master like all good fighting games should be, and when playing it, I got lost in moments such as the final moment when Galactus is walking up to the fighter, it’s you vs the “World Eater” and you have to save the world…Also Deadpool stole the show.

Mortal Kombat

E3: (Still not big into fighting games at this point) This game looks awesome, AND Kratos is going to be in it?

End Result: Going in to the couple weeks I was on the fence about buying this game, until I played the demo. I spent the hundred dollars on the special edition that came with Scorpion and Sub-Zero bookends, an art book, original Scorpion costume, original Scorpion fatality, original Ermac costume, and the game itself. The game alone at $60 is a bargain alone if you’re a single player. Story mode, classic ladder mode, the challenge tower, test your might/sight/luck modes was all just a scratch of the surface of what was on this one disc. Unfortunately, this game was released the same day as Portal 2 so while the PS3 had Kratos as a playable character and the Chamber of the Flame from God of War 3 as a stage, they lost online capabilities that week.

Splatterhouse

E3: This game is right up my alley, blood, guts, and denim shorts!!!

End Result: The game was delayed from mid October to the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. The pre-order bonus was a 6″ mask statue that came in the mail, the Tuesday before Christmas. As for the game, it was average at best, the final boss fight wasn’t all that great, and the ending cinematic blatantly left it open for a sequel, which I wouldn’t mind if the game was great. The original trilogy was a nice addition to unlock and I’m definitely not going to complain about seeing the boobs of the girlfriend in the game. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone except hardcore splatterhouse fans that really, really, really loved the original games, but you weren’t missing out on anything if you haven’t played it. Although the heavy metal soundtrack was kind of nice.

Madden NFL 2011

E3: “Game Flow” seems like a nice touch, I usually only play with a friend of mine at his place, and I always lose. Maybe I’ll finally have an even playing field.

End Result: While a friend did pick this game up, we did usually have our usually “he kicks my ass in Madden” hangout but this time was different. Aside from winning a few games, the Game Flow feature really did simplify the game for me when I was playing against the computer. They somehow made something for the casual Madden fan like me, and the core Madden fan like my friend.
Donkey Kong Country Returns

E3: This might be the only Wii exclusive title I would’ve loved to have played…IF I had a Wii. I remember not just how this game looked on the Super Nintendo in the mid 90’s, but how fun the overall game was.

End Result: Long story short, one of my brothers has a Wii, I got this game for my nephew, and when he passed the controller to me I switched from motion to traditional controls and the nostalgia returned. Sure they could’ve tried to make the game look even better, but the experience was still there. Job well done Nintendo.

Littlebig Planet 2

E3: The first game stole my heart. It’s impossible for me not to smile just watching one of my brothers or nephew play this game. Now the people at Media Molecule are going to add more?

End Result: It’s still impossible not to smile watching Sackboy do his thing. Now it’s not just a platform game, it’s a racing game, shooter, all the user created levels have just a little bit of everything.

Shank

E3: This looks interesting. Side scrolling platform game with hack and slash elements…I might like this.

End Result: I loved playing this game. A frustrating final boss, but overall great game to play. It was a throwback to the games I loved playing as a kid but with a grittier, “grindhouse” type feel to it. Switching weapons and guns made opened the game up and still at it’s core a side scrolling platform game.

Gran Turismo 5

E3: This looks okay. It’s not Burnout, but I don’t expect it to be, I’ll give it a shot.

End Result: This wasn’t Burnout at all, and that’s not a bad thing. Over a thousand real cars and this is the closest I’ll ever get to driving an obscenely expensive car that I can never afford to drive in real life. Playing this game it doesn’t feel like a racing game unless I’m in second place or worse, it is a driving experience. To drive a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, or even a Dodge Viper is something I’ll always have GT5 for.

inFamous 2

E3: They’re making the sequel? Sweet!!!

End Result: Bought the “Hero” edition, with the bag, statue, poster, comic, and the game, the bag is sweet. Even though it was a featured game at this years E3, it was released the same week. Playing this game makes me go on power trips, and feeling the tough decisions that make me feel like a genuine hero. It’s a more polished version than it’s predecessor yet still has the same type of gameplay and almost the same feel in some areas. No regrets toward spending the C-note on this one, as it delivered that right amount of difficulty to challenge me, but ease to make me want to keep playing.

About The Author

As a three time platinum trophy earner, Jose is always serving his master Gaming...FOREVER MAY HE (or she) REIGN!!! Writing for New Gamer Nation and might pop up just about anywhere. Oh yeah, follow him on Twitter @DSB_IV

Pilot

Congratulations on your first post, awesome article!

Super Sanchez Bros

Thanks, I appreciate the opportunity

http://www.realmenplayvideogames.com/ Miles

Cool concept for a post! I just started playing Little Big Planet and Infamous as part of the welcome back program. I haven’t got “into” LBP yet, but your post has encouraged me to keep trying user levels.

I played a batman level in LBP and was really impressed with the creativity and how it felt like a Batman level, instead of a LBP level. Pretty kewl stuff.

https://twitter.com/#!/DSB_IV Super Sanchez Bros

Thanks for reading and looking into LBP.

I recommend searching for “Epic Shark Escape” or something along those lines. It’s just your Sackboy/Sackgirl running across platforms floating on water and you try to get as far as you can from a shark. It’s one of the most intense ones I’ve played.